Hey, hey, hey, the gang’s all here – doing gang harmonies, we mean, not defying grammatical convention by using an apostrophe to pluralize, as the Mowgli’s do. The Los Angeles seven-piece joins a long line of bands taking the collectivist approach to vocals, their chipper folk-pop-with-a-dusting-of-soul seeking to inspire sunny dispositions and sing-alongs. The new […]
Brass Tax is the musical (ad)venture of Jada Wagensomer, who also plays in Dante Vs Zombies and Jail Weddings. For her song “Man With the Tooth,” she enlisted filmmaker Burke Roberts to make a video – and it’s pointed and startling and a little bit deranged. Apparently it was too risqué for MTV. Buddyhead premiered […]
Singer-songwriter Morgan Nagler got her project Whispertown off the ground oh-so-many years ago by rubbing elbows with a couple of other former child actors, Blake Sennett and Jenny Lewis of Rilo Kiley. And Friday night – on the occasion of her birthday as well as the release of Whispertown’s new EP “Parallel” – the bonds […]
The first single from Silversun Pickups’ forthcoming third album “Neck of the Woods” (due May 8 on Dangerbird) sounds like a band intent on not repeating itself. Now almost a decade into their career, the foursome were feedback-happy noiseniks in the years leading up to 2006’s “Carnavas” who then distended that sound to stadium proportions […]
Dream-pop comes in a variety of textures, with feather-light synths at one end of the spectrum and heavy bass lines on the other. Katie Harris and Tom Brayton of L.A. band the Open Feel offer alternative rock with a slight splash of atmospherics, an unbalanced formula that works in smoldering mantras you might’ve heard in […]
With brother and sister Ethan and Barbara Gruska at the helm, humorous bits are bound to seep into all live sets from the Belle Brigade. But even as charming jokers, the duo’s close bond is apparent through both their musical gifts and stage banter. Their new video for “Where Not to Look for Freedom” takes […]
Dante Vs Zombies have inspired a graveyard full of descriptors in their delirious three-year lifespan – “spaghetti Western jungle music” and “ghetto pop” among them. “Bongload of fun” came to mind when the L.A. collective’s first single “Yes, I”m Stalking You” hit a couple years back, and it still applies to DVZ’s first full-length “BUH,” […]
The first taste from Meiko‘s long-awaited follow-up to her highly-regarded 2007 self-titled album was not too much of a stretch from the singer-songwriter’s notably intimate allure. “Stuck On You” was sweet, innocent and paired with a charming melody, but the first official single, “Leave the Lights On,” from Meiko’s forthcoming record “The Bright Side” (out […]
“Isn’t There More,” Morgan Nagler asks rhetorically on the closing track to Whispertown’s new EP “Parallel” (out this week via Acony Records). Of course there is, there always is, and sometimes you have to dig deeper to find it. Whether dispensing woozy Americana or the piquant synth-pop of “Open the Other Eye,” Nagler and her […]
The vivid orchestral brushstrokes on Little Red Lung’s self-titled EP (released this week) are like a watercolor in motion one moment, and an Edvard Munch come to life the next. At the center of the quartet’s serpentine arrangements – augmented by cello, violin, euphonium, trombone, vibes and other percussion – is singer-keyboardist Zoe-Ruth Erwin, an […]
